Musings
by Angel of Mercy '96
Summary: A Calormene delegation attempts to blackmail Edmund. Peter muses though a sleepless night before the trial. Everyone will soon discover how powerful Peter's wrath truly is. Epilogue of Just Don't Look Back. Three-shot.


Hello folks! I'm back from my hiatus. My whole computer was wiped and thank goodness I keep most of my stories on a flashdrive. I hope you all enjoy this little oneshot. Yes, it is the epilogue to Just Don't Look Back even though the story is not completely posted anymore. It's coming! Be patient! My opinion is that you don't even need to have read the story to understand this oneshot. Give a shout out to **Lady of the Stormness Mountain** if you so review. She the most wonderful beta anyone can have (I think I said that three times now). So please enjoy...

The homeless lady doesn't own anything. (Just kidding about the homeless part.)

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I'm quite worried. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Edmund was always there when all four of us were together. His mind might not have been, but he was always there. Now, since he was better both mentally and physically his mind was now present. He had broken from his shell ever since I talked to him just before the coronation, a blessed thing that relieved me of a burden I could no longer carry.

Today marks the forty-fifth day since our arrival at Cair Paravel, but Edmund's heart is still touched by cold and quiet. I cannot bear to see him so, but my hasty words have wounded his slowly healing confidence.

_Calormenes_, the very word elicited a groan from many Narnians' throats. At first I was unfamiliar with Calormene practices, but I soon learned from our advisors that I could not interact casually with their ambassadors as I did with our Archenland allies. The Calormen was once Narnia's greatest enemy, and judging by their history and culture, it is all but inevitable that our countries will reignite that animosity. Their government and way of life are to Narnia's as oil to water. Their ambassadors are to arrive today, and the mood is tense in the castle. The guards are on edge and seem as though they would seize our richly clothed guests at a single disrespectful word. We greeted them warmly in an attempt to foster good international relations. They seemed perfectly amicable to me, but I trusted my advisors' admonitions not to trust their facade of civility, for they veil their intentions in a multitude of flowery flattery.

They rest of the day we treated them with hospitality and I noticed Emmet and the rest of our dearest friends disappeared. I soon found Emmet and Brom in the garden sitting under a blossoming dogwood in silence. Soon after I truly realized how much they dislike the ambassadors. I did not stay too long, though, because I needed to find Lalia and Edmund before the trade negotiations commenced. Then, I was told, the Calormenes would show their true colors.

My search succeeded in mid afternoon. I thanked the Lion, and then saw the sword at her side She didn't say a word to me as she past me. Her face look half annoyed and half worried. When I began to ask her if she was alright she was gone.

Now I sit in my room. I find it too large. It got cold easily like any huge stone room would. There was a fireplace but I'm not fond of the smell of wood as I try to sleep. My desk is probably the size of the kitchen table in Finchley. Everything seemed oversized. However, I loved the balcony. I would usually keep the doors open and let the sea air waft in with the sound of the soft roll of the waves. The sound is especially soothing to me. Tonight though, I couldn't get sleep until I knew why my advisors nearly ordered me not to sign the document. It was rather rude how the Faun stated it. The point-blank order brooked no argument, but I noticed a trifle fear mixed with the flash of anger in the Faun's eyes. So as I sat down on this cushioned seat I sighed and picked the heavy parchment up. Then I heard a knock on the door; hoping it was my advisor coming to apologizing to me and maybe telling me what the parchment had on it I answered the door. To my disappointment it wasn't him but the Talking Fox.

"I bring news High King Peter on what happened in the courtroom."

I welcome him in and took a seat on a step, getting close to eye level with the Fox.

"Your royal brother is a bit shaken up and Lalia is in some high water right now, your majesty."

"What happened?"

"I sneaked into the courtroom and listened in. It sounded like a normal trade discussion for quite some time. I nearly walked out until the Calormenes asked for lower prices. Now, your brother did the right thing and rejected it because the farmers would be outraged if they can't make some kind of profit on their goods. However, the man would not take no for an answer, and so King Edmund asked for Lalia to help him out with the quarrel. Then things went horribly. The head Calormene ambassador threatened King Edmund, shouting "Traitor" and uttering a multitude of death threats. Lalia drew her sword and attacked the ambassador; her second mistake. The Duchess's first one was bringing the weapon with her. No one should be armed at an ambassadors' meeting. She attacked the man and would have killed him, but King Edmund stopped her. However, in her two second attack she succeeded in laying him out with both her boot and the tip of her sword at the ambassador's throat. I am sure that as soon as the bruising goes down he will be able to speak again. The ambassadors were escorted out of the court and sent to dinner and are dismissed the rest of the evening."

I am livid. If I knew which Calormene it was I would kill them myself despite their diplomatic immunity. Such threats upon the person of one of Narnia's kings should be cause enough to revoke their protection and allow me to throw him to the mercy of the waves myself. I now know why neither Edmund, Lalia, or Emmet came to dinner. Lucy just told me he had a rough time in there and that he wanted some peace. However, I didn't think of this happening.

"Anything else Mr. Fox?" I asked before grinding my teeth slightly.

"No, your majesty. That was all I had time for before Queen Susan requested my help."

I nodded, "Thank you."

"You're welcome King Peter." He said bowing and exiting the my chambers.

I stroked my hair and sighed once more and turned my thoughts back to the contract. I paced once, twice, maybe three times before taking my seat. I wanted to see Edmund so badly but before I came here I tried to open his door. It wouldn't budge and felt as though it was locked and he had something against the doors. I needed to find another way in there. He could have hurt himself. Susan told me to stop fretting about his isolation so much, but I can't. Even since he actually tried to hurt himself a few weeks ago. Edmund said he was over the whole ordeal, but is that the truth?

I picked up and read the contract. I came to the first section with no one knocking on my door. Then the next one. As I came to the third and final section I gasped at what I read. The benefits were good, we would have a peace treaty with them, and tariffs would be cut, almost everything you can ask for. However the price was rubbish—no, rubbish is an understatement. They wanted my own brother dethroned, and killed. They would give the throne to a child of the Trisoc. Then they had the gut to tell me that Edmund was the Witch's servant and was ready to strike revenge on us. Outraged, I crumbled the paper up and moved to the fireplace. I started a fire quickly and came back for the contract. As I got ready to throw the cursed paper into the blazing fire I heard footsteps. I turned around to see Edmund walking from the balcony. Balcony?

"You're not supposed to burn that. It's going to be proof in court tomorrow. Almost everyone knows what they wrote." He said; his last words were shaky.

I nodded and placed the parchment back on my desk. After recovering myself from his appearance I asked. "Are you alright?"

He didn't answer, but I knew he wasn't alright. He was as white as the marble floor and his eyes bounced darted gazes around the room fearfully.

I pulled at the collar of my shirt. I still wondered how he got in here without using the door. "How did you get in here."

He didn't answer again but gave me a clue as he stepped away from the balcony even more. I walked outside and look in the direction of his room. Just outside the exterior wall there was a ledge. It was just a half of a foot length but just enough to use to shimmy himself over here and climb over my balcony ledge. A good distance below were rugged rock and crashing waves. He could have died doing that stunt. Disappointed in him I came back in.

"What did you do that? You could have died!" I demanded, maybe my voice was a little too stern. He yelped and backed away from me.

"I'm sorry! It was stupid of me to do that. I'm sorry Peter!" Edmund pleaded, I could see his body was shaking.

I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down. Our two gazes met and lock onto each other. I didn't know how long we spent staring I broke down completely and engulfed him in a hug.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. You just really scared me." I felt Edmund nod slightly in my shoulder. I really didn't mean to yell at him. It was just I was a little surprised of him doing such a stunt.

I slowly pulled him away from me and asked. "You want to talk about what happened?"

He slowly walked over to the fireplace and took a seat. I soon followed and took a seat in the chair across the way. I leaned closer, putting my elbows on my knees.

"When I left just after the meeting, Userin had just read the treaty rather quickly he told me to continue on with the trade meeting and went to have a word with Lalia and then just before we entered the courtroom I realized she had the sword. We were told not to be armed during anything that had to do with any advisers."

"I remember Oreius informing me about that."

"Yes, and I asked and she told me that things would be a bit 'tense' and to stay closer to her. The meeting seemed to be going normal. We did what needed to be done, and they seemed quite satisfied. I asked if they had anymore requests and they requested a lower price on goods. I was told to reject and I did because I knew the farmers wanted a profit. But they continued to fight with me. I was scared and asked Lalia to help me. She tried and that's when I was…"

"Threatened." I answered for him, he took a shaky breath.

"Then one of the ambassadors approached me. The taller man that said he was from the Tisroc. Before he could even reach me I saw Lalia on top of him with her sword at his neck. Hamin pulled Lalia off of him and all the men started chanting. She lead me out soon after and the guards stepped in."

I nodded, tomorrow was going to be a big day. Lalia, if the ambassadors get their way would be constrained of her title and if they didn't we would still have to suspend her for some time even if she was just trying to keep my brother safe. The ambassador, I would do everything in my power to make sure he loses all of his diplomatic immunity. No, all of them. They tried to kill my brother, and they will pay.

He yawned. "Then I was soon told they were all trying to kill me."

"So you hid in your room?"

"I got scared, sorry."

"Its fine Ed since I know now."

"I don't want to go in the hallways. There's twelve and they're huge men."

"I know, but you just could have asked one of the guards to have me come over to your chambers."

"I had a feeling that they would be at my door."

"Ed they can't even get close to any of our rooms. I made sure of it."

"I know you did, but you don't know how convinced they are to kill me."

I paused and sighed. Edmund was truly scared. "Alright, I wasn't there so I don't know. However I will make sure they leave just after court tomorrow and never come back."

"Alright."

I smiled at him and looked outside the doors of the balcony. I soon realized what time it was. The moon shone high above the sea. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We had other ways to tell time that don't involve observing where the sun and the moon where in the sky, but I learned that they weren't accurate and took too much time. Oreius and others taught me how to tell time whenever. Now, it looked to be midnight, maybe a little after. Edmund had the thousand mile stare. He needed to go to bed no matter how much he didn't what to. I knew that it would be a struggle, but he needed to.

"Why don't you try to sleep. In your own room."

He sighed being reluctant, so I tried harder. "I'll walk down there with you."

"Peter, I think I'm old enough to walk down there on my own since I know they shouldn't be anywhere around here. I don't need you to tuck me in or anything anymore."

Now he was doing the 'I'm old enough' talk to me. "Alright, then it would be nice if you did. No matter how much you think you're healed, you don't need to be awake all night. I would like to go to bed myself."

"I'm going Peter. I'm fine." He got up finally and went to the door. He left a little too fast, but before he could put a hand on the door I stopped him. He turned and looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Goodnight."

He smiled and left my room. Alone again I decided that I should really take my own advice and at least try the sleep. I was still livid about these horrid people wanting to take my forgiven brother's life. I flattened out the parchment and laid it on my desk once again. You could still read it clearly as I knew it would be me that would be reading it aloud tomorrow if I can keep my temper under control. I've almost lost him three times already, I can't take anymore people who even think about taking Edmund away from me.

I changed quite quickly into my night clothes and decided to keep the fire going. It was still chilly even though it was late spring. I blew out the candles I had lit this evening. Soon my chambers became rather dark. The only light sources I had was the orange glow from the fire and the white light from the stars and the moon coming though my window. Just the way I liked it. Edmund and I would always fight about the light while we were sleeping. He would rather have the curtains drawn and it pitch black in the room. I disagreed not because I was afraid, it was because I just didn't like it. I would like the wake up from the morning sun rather than someone else. I never loved the idea of being jolted awake.

I laid in my bed awake. I had too many thoughts running inside my head to even think about sleeping. I was nervous about tomorrow. This would be my first trial, and it wouldn't be something easy. It had to be my own friend in trouble and twelve high ranked Calormenes. Even though how much I would regret having to do this, but my duty as High King mandated that I must suspend Lalia from court. I do not know how long, but Edmund would be on his own in there unless we helped him out and we really didn't know what we were doing either. Granted, we could get help by the other Narnians, but it would be convenient to have someone with actual experience.

I don't know how long I spent musing about yesterday and what would happen in the morning. I hated sleepless nights. I had enough of them. Susan even told me that I made many simple mistakes when I haven't slept. It would not look good if I make one in front of the trial. So I closed my eyes and tried to do this relaxation thing many had told me to do. The first step was to at least try to clear your mind. Next, was to relax your, feet, then your legs, arms, shoulders, and finally your whole body. It worked sometimes so I couldn't give up on the trick, but I do wish is would work faster.

As I finally felt like I was going to fall asleep. I heard my door open and close softly. I could hear someone's bare feet step towards me. Then someone climbed up into my bed and lay without the sheets over themselves. I turned to only be face to face with Edmund.

I nearly groaned. "What's the matter now?"

"I can hear everyone down on my end of the hall. Below us the Calormenes are awake discussing something in their tongue, I don't understand anything their saying, but I keep hearing my name over and over. Then there's Lalia and Emmet arguing, Lalia sounded quite frantic about what would happen tomorrow. Emmet was trying to keep her calm I think but the last thing I heard before I left my chambers was a loud crash in their direction."

I nodded understandingly. He shivered slightly, so I pulled at the sheets until I had Edmund under them.

"I just want to have this traitor problem to go away." I think he was pleading to Aslan. It didn't seem like he was talking to me but I replied anyway.

"Edmund they know that it's our weakness. They'll always try to take control from us by using it."

"I know, but I want to forget about it. People just won't let me."

"You can't forget about it Ed, but I don't want it to tear you down again."

He breathed deeply. "I wish life wasn't so hard."

"Me too. Why don't you try to sleep, I'm right here."

He nodded and curled into a little ball and closed his eyes. I don't know how much pain he was going though himself. But I knew it overreached mine completely. He looked better physically now, but I knew mentally even the smallest of things would set him off. Many have said to me that even though he has accepted himself in the family and his own throne I would still have to keep an close eye on him.

He shifted in his sleep and moved to grab one of the pillows to lay his head on. He sighed softly and went back to sleep. I smiled and started to play with his hair as I mused. This place has change all of us. We felt_ closer_ now. Used to, I wouldn't see my sisters for weeks and nearly a month once. I hated it, I always hated the schools we went to. Now, in Narnia, we had a tutor, but it was easier and much more interesting to learn. The Narnians seemed to have an energy that teachers in Finchley could never have. I still wonder what it is; Susan thinks it is all of the fresh air but I think its more complicated. They don't worry about the things many do before we came here and it relieves us in someway. They run on optimism and faith in the Lion.

I still couldn't find any sleep tonight. Edmund sure has since he curled up next to me. I hope that he realizes that he's ten and can't do everything alone. Even I had too little experience to do much of anything without advice, and tomorrow I would definitely be relying on others. No matter what the circumstances could be, these Calormenes will never be coming back.

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Like it? Love it? If you do please review. Even if you didn't like some of it and would like to give me some advice you will get a cookie. I might have a second part for this story in the feature. Let's just see what my muse brings me.


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